Atheist Bus Campaign Says Enjoy Life

THE Atheist Bus Campaign campaign is relaunched. Can a bus be an atheist? Yes. We live in liberal times. Perhaps is a bus can be a jihadi it will be immune from attack? Unless it wears a suicide fan belt, in which case the whole depot is f****.

The Atheist Bus Campaign launches today, Tuesday October 21 2008. With your support, we hope to raise £5,500 to run 30 buses across the capital for four weeks with the slogan: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

Atheists don’t worry?

Old Mr Anorak’s lawyer wold like it be known that his meeting “Jews for Atheism” will convene at his mother’s house at 7:30 sharp. Leave shoes at the door as the carpets have just been cleaned.

Professor Richard Dawkins, bestselling author of The God Delusion, is officially supporting the Atheist Bus Campaign, and has generously agreed to match all donations up to a maximum of £5,500, giving us a total of £11,000 if we reach the full amount – enough for a much bigger campaign. The British Humanist Association have kindly agreed to administer all donations.

First a godless bus; then a godless coach; then a damn train. And Dawkins for company. There is no god…

With your help, we can brighten people’s days on the way to work, help raise awareness of atheism in the UK, and hopefully encourage more people to come out as atheists. We can also counter the religious adverts which are currently running on London buses, and help people think for themselves.

Nothing like telling people they are alone in the universe to put a skip in their steps. And why attack God if he isn’t there..?

Indeed, people are indoctrinated with a very wide range of views, but surely the problem is that being indoctrinated with anything is likely to cause a great deal of anguish; religion isn’t the worst.

Consider the people who were indoctrinated with the pseudo-science of Social Darwinism; a lot of people died as a result of the belief that one could scientifically prove that some ‘races’ are inferior and are doomed to be destroyed in the survival of the fittest.

The wars of genetics killed far more people than the wars of religion did…

David R

I agree Carlos –

I think the religions are scared – otherwise they wouldnt protest so loudly when they are lampooned –
We have had 2000 years of Christianity – and other theisms and the middle east doesnt look much different today than when the Romans occupied it .. It doesnt seem like its been a great success this god thing.

chenier

Tim

If you really believe that a few thousand people constitutes ‘a large number of people’ then you need to get out more.

And if you don’t understand what Whiggish history is then you need to take a few years and read some.

History, that is.

Once you have done so you will discover that there have been many people, throughout history, who were atheists, and some of them were even atheists in cultures in which atheism could be a rapid ticket to extinction.

Proclaiming your superiority whilst simultaneously demonstrating your profound ignorance of the history of Western culture is unlikely to impress anyone with the intellectual force of your views…

chenier

David R

It would probably help if you grasped that religions encompass a much wider range than you appear to imagine.

It would help even more if you added up the number of people who have been killed in the name of god and compared it with the number of people who have been killed in the name of science.

I very much doubt that the millions killed in the death camps were cheered by the knowledge that the Final Solution was devised by some of the finest scientists Germany had to offer…

Tim

Chernier,

Maybe you’re right and there are hardly any atheists/non-believers in the UK, and it’s limited to just the people who have to date donated £112k to what is a light-hearted idea for an advert. If you believe that then fine; I think you’re wrong, and it’s at least 16% in London alone according to the last Census. I guess that you didn’t read that I anticipated that exact response, as the question was clearly intended as a trap.

What exactly is your point? Or which of my points are you addressing? I’m perfectly aware of what Whig history is, but throwing second-hand pejorative terms around in an ad hominem fashion instead of actually addressing a point is likewise “unlikely to impress anyone with the intellectual force of your views”.

“It would help even more if you added up the number of people who have been killed in the name of god and compared it with the number of people who have been killed in the name of science.”

Go on then, add them up. What a totally baseless and pointless rhetorical claim. Are you claiming that it’s better that people believe supernatural-orientated lies as they’re less likely to kill each other? Like a placebo? Religion hardly led to no-one killing each other did it?

“Once you have done so you will discover that there have been many people, throughout history, who were atheists, and some of them were even atheists in cultures in which atheism could be a rapid ticket to extinction.”

I know. What exactly does that have to do with anything I’ve said? (Please don’t reply with a “Well if you don’t understand, then I suggest you…” type response, I know it’s your M.O. but people do it on the internet all the time and it makes you look like a pompous idiot). If you’ve got a point, make it. Don’t hide behind a false air of intellectual superiority and condescending rhetoric.

chenier

Tim

I pointed out that on a planet with around 6.7 billion human beings ‘a large number of people’ would come to a rather larger figure than a few thousand people. Anyone with a grasp of simple arithmetic should be able to work that one out.

I have at no time suggested that there are only a few atheists in this country; perhaps you could explain where you derive this claim from?

You do seem rather keen on making up strawman arguments, never a good sign…

Tim

Your issue with my use of the word “large” as a description of the amount of people who have donated to the campaign is laughably pedantic. Of course it’s not a large amount of people in the context of the world population, did I suggest any such thing? Once more, if you don’t think that the response to the campaign is in any way impressive or has seemed to have struck a chord with a “large” amount of people in this context then I disagree. You don’t think thousands of people is a “large” amount in the context of donating money for adverts on the side of buses in London, and you don’t think that it’s the tip of an iceberg. Fine. As I told you before you even responded (with the very response I predicted): *shrug*.

Anyway, I said:

“If you’ve got a point, make it. Don’t hide behind a false air of intellectual superiority and condescending rhetoric.”

Yet the sum of your response was:

“Anyone with a grasp of simple arithmetic should be able to work that one out.”

“You do seem rather keen on making up strawman arguments, never a good sign…”

Oh dear, those last four words are embarrassingly cliched, and it’s all ad hominem sneering again I see. So after accusing me of knowing nothing about Western history or culture you decide not to actually debate any of those points and instead focus bizarrely on what you consider to be an inappropriate contextual use of the word “large”.

If you’re going to call people out on their supposed intellectual inferiority to yourself (which you’ve pretty much done with everyone you disagree with on this thread) don’t run a mile as soon as your shoddy points are questioned. You’re clearly not as smart as you think you are mate, otherwise you wouldn’t be so evasive.

I’m done with this “discussion”, I’m going back to arguing with people in real life about things that really matter, like football.

chenier

Tim,

you are the person who made up the claim that I had stated there were very few atheists in this country.

If you start off a post with a verifiably false assertion you can hardly expect me, or anyone else, to then go through the rest of it in the hope that somewhere along the line you might come within shouting distance of what might loosely be described as a fact.

Making up claims which you then refute is, by definition, strawman, and is usually regarded as proof that you can’t muster any worthwhile reply.

Your claim that atheism is ‘progress’ from ‘outdated’ views is claptrap; what is there outdated about looking for proof of a statement? No-one can prove there is no god because it is impossible to prove a negative; that’s why Richard Dawkins refused to sign up to the ‘There is no god’ version of the advert. He’d be gutted by his colleagues if he did otherwise.

Logic applies irrespective of one’s culture and one’s language. You claim to value Western philosophy whilst simultaneously ignoring one of the central achievements of that philosophy.

You cannot seriously expect human beings around the world not to notice that you are propounding a logical absurdity under the guise of rationality; there is a jarring disconnect which simply provides an opportunity for religious fundamentalists to point to the hypocrisy of the claim.

And they do point to it, in much the same way as they point to the hypocrisy of the IMF, which had one set of rules for developing countries, but quite another when it is the US doing all the things the IMF has preached against for decades.

Of course, now that the Prime Minister is going cap in hand to the Gulf States for money to bail out the IMF we can expect rather less honesty about how badly some of those states treat their citizens, just as we can expect rather less honesty about how China treats its citizens.

But no doubt you will convince yourself that adverts on London buses will fix that as well…

annie1

Why bother and who really cares. I dont want anybody to inflict their beliefs upon me. If I have a God, then that is my business, If I dont, then why should it worry anyone else? If I end up in a very hot hell because I have no God, then why would anyone want to convert me? They dont know me, so why would they want me in their safe haven – heaven? All this trash on the buses is about as good as promoting organic food. I only eat what I want to – organic or not – couldnt give a damn! I was appauled to see “organic” bananas and cashew nuts!! Do they know – really know – how long it would take to produce an organic banana? Definately not during the lifespan of the current organic epidemic! The same applies to God – I have never seen God, – but I wouldnt care if someone else said they had – Halleluja!! Buses are not the place to promote either anti or pro religion. Lets keep the sides of the buses for deoderant adverts, shall we? I went into a place today and stood next to the most revolting smelling, probably God fearing individual you can imagine. If only the bus had said “smell your armpits and repent”

Steph88

To annie1,
I’m sorry if you’ve had religious people trying to shove their beliefs down your throat. I am a christian and I believe that, yes, you are completely free to make up your own mind and, yes, I don’t know you, but someone not knowing God worries me in the same way that if i saw someone I had never seen before about to be runover by a c ar I would try to stop it from happening. God’s kingdom is a gift for everybody and it doesn’t take much to get there – you just have to reach out and take it. And no you don’t even have to attend church every week, or kneel down with your eyes shut to pray or confess your sins to some bloke in a dress. It’s easy, honest! What have you got to lose?

David R

Thats the point Steph88 – you dont have to do anything – its a get of prison free card
you dont have to show up – You dont even say what you have to do –

I say just live a good life – dont run people down – dont try to convert them – leave them be without your church and god – they will find their own way – and still live a good and honest life without the need of guidance from the guys in dresses –

Marie Nicholas

Atheism worries me when it becomes a religion. Some states throughout history have tried to enforce it : notably the French state during the Revolution in 17898, and the sovietic state in communist countries. They were as bad, if not worse, than the other side. The writing on the bus is sarcastic and conceited; it ridicules people who believe. Saying that God exists or that God doesn’t exist is equally a belief, and suggests to me that those people are fanatics, and treat their fellow citizens as if they were ignorant.

isitme?

It doesn’t really matter if there is a God or not. If you need to believe there is, well ok, be a christian, muslim, buddist, whatever and do as your bible says and be nice to everyone. If you feel there isn’t a God, well ok, be one with yourself and be nice to everyone. Win, win situation.

jay

there is a god but it is not a he or a she and it has nothing to do with the bible. but yes, there is some sort of god.